Takumi Takahashi joins Red Bull Honda WorldSBK

Takumi Takahashi to race with the Red Bull Honda World Superbike team at Portimão and Jerez

27-year-old Japanese rider Takumi Takahashi will be racing alongside full-time rider Stefan Bradl in the 2017 FIM Superbike World Championship at the Portimão and Jerez rounds.

Takumi Takahashi

“I’m honoured, as a rider who has continuously fought to race on the world stage, that my achievements and experience have been recognized, and I have been given the opportunity to race in the World Superbike Championship. I’ll use all of the experience I’ve gained racing the CBR1000RR Fireblade SP2 in the All-Japan championship to aim high and contribute to the team. I’d like to ride my best in front of the world’s Superbike fans, so I hope they’ll look forward to seeing me.”

Takahashi, who is an official test rider of Honda Racing Corporation (HRC), has a vast experience with the CBR1000RR Fireblade, winning the Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race three times with the Fireblade in 2010, 2013 and 2014 and also in the JSB1000 class of the MFJ All-Japan Road Race Championship Series (JRR) where he rides for the MuSASHi RT HARC-PRO. Honda team.

Musashi RT HARC-Pro trio (Takumi Takahashi - Leon Haslam - Michael van der Mark) have taken out the 2014 Suzuka 8 Hours by just under a minute ahead of Yoshimura Suzuki Shell Advance (Takuya Tsuda - Josh Waters - Randy De Puniet). This was the second win in succession for the Musashi RT HARC-Pro triumvirate. — Musashi RT HARC-Pro trio (Takumi Takahashi – Leon Haslam – Michael van der Mark) took out the 2014 Suzuka 8 Hours by just under a minute ahead of Yoshimura Suzuki Shell Advance (Takuya Tsuda – Josh Waters – Randy De Puniet). This was the second win in succession for the Musashi RT HARC-Pro triumvirate.

This year, Takahashi has won the first two rounds of the All-Japan Superbike Championship on board the all-new Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP2, and he is currently second in the Championship standings, five points behind the leader.

Takahashi’s vast experience will help Honda and the team in their ongoing development of the WorldSBK-spec version of the new CBR1000RR Fireblade SP2.

Takumi Takahashi MuSASHi RT HARC-PRO – 1st - “I am very happy to win the race. To be honest, I am not good at riding in the rain so I felt relieved riding safely in my first stint. For the third stint, I was not supposed to ride at first, but team decided on me going because I have the most experience. I’ve had enough of rain! I hope to ride in dry condition next time.” — Takumi Takahashi MuSASHi RT HARC-PRO – 1st – 2014 Suzuka 8 Hour

Marco Chini – Honda’s WorldSBK Operations Manager

“We are happy to welcome Takumi-san into the team and are looking forward to seeing him on track at Portimão and Jerez. He is a very talented rider and this year has really stepped up his game; he is definitely among the quickest riders in Japan. Honda has always had an extremely high regard of his skills as a racer and test rider, and his long-term experience with the Fireblade will surely help the team and Honda to have a clearer idea of the current package in order to plan future developments.”